Post #1- Response to Pollan's Argument

In the book "In Defense of Food" Michael Pollan is arguing that our country is not as healthy as we should be. I agree because a lot of people are running to a McDonald's, or any other type of fast food restaurant, when they are hungry instead of cooking a nice nutritional and healthy meal. He is also saying that processed foods may be considered 'healthier' for us than than whole foods if they contain the appropriate quantities of some nutrients. This was sort of a shock to me because I didn't think that processed foods were even good for us, but when you look at his definition of nutritionism then it could be a possibility that he's right. A few years ago I saw this movie called "Super-size Me". I'm pretty sure a lot of you have seen it, but for those of you that haven't it is about a guy named Morgan Spurlock. Spurlock is on a 30-day time period where he only eats McDonald's foods. The reason for his investigation was because of the increasing spread of obesity throughout the U.S. society. He wanted to prove that the people in the U.S. are getting obese. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and prevention show that from 1995 to 2008 there has been a mojor increase in obesity of the U.S. population. It also shows that in 2008, Colorado was the only state with an obesity prevelance under 20%. Thirty-two states had an obesity prevelance equal to or over 25%; six of these states (Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia) all had prevelances equal to or over 30%. This just shows that our country's eating habits and food choices are going down the drain.